Postal Service Will Issue A 5-cent Stamp Honoring Luis Munoz Marin

February 25, 1990|By Dominic Sama, Knight-Ridder Newspapers.

The U.S. Postal Service is introducing a new design feature this Sunday with the issuance of a 5-cent Great Americans Series definitive honoring Luis Munoz Marin, the first elected governor of Puerto Rico.

The design includes a zero in the denomination, which reads ``05.``

Henceforth, the zero will appear on all stamps with values of one through nine cents to ensure that low-value stamps are not confused with high-value issues.

The confusion began after the Postal Service dropped the ``c`` for cents from designs in 1984, leaving only the numeral in the design. The ``c`` was eliminated for graphic-design reasons and to provide space for larger numerals.

Soon after the ``c`` was dropped, however, customers began complaining that they occasionally were confusing some single-digit denominations with the higher values.

For example, when hurriedly affixing stamps on packages and some letters, customers would give the denomination a quick glance and confuse a 1-cent stamp with a $1 denomination.

The Munoz Marin definitive also introduces another overdue feature: that of printing more information about the subject being honored, both in the design and on the selvage (the blank border around a sheet of stamps).

In addition to Munoz Marin`s name, the design includes the words

``Governor, Puerto Rico.`` Previously, only the name of the person was printed on stamps in the Great Americans Series, with no additional information.